


Twenty Questions

by Haberdasher



Series: Avarice AU [10]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avarice, Demon Deals, Demons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 16:59:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haberdasher/pseuds/Haberdasher
Summary: An Avarice AU fic starring thelastspeecher's OC Angie.





	Twenty Questions

The woman was looking at him.

The woman was looking at him, and Stan realized too late that he didn’t look human. He could have done more to conceal himself, could have made the whites of his eyes white again and turned claws back into nails and hidden away his wings, but it was too late for that now, at least as far as the woman standing next to him in the hallway was concerned.

So instead, Stan took a different approach.

“Wanna play Twenty Questions?”

“What?” the woman asked.

“Instead of staring at me like that, how about you just ask me what I am, and I’ll tell ya the truth. And if you don’t get it figured out in twenty questions, well, too bad for you.” Stan raised a finger. “And ‘what?’ counts as a question, so really it’s more like Nineteen Questions now.”

“Do you do this with everyone you meet?”

_ Eighteen. _

“No, not really.”

“Then why are you doing it with me?”

Stan hesitated, realizing he wasn’t quite sure how to respond. “Never mind that. I won’t count that as a question.”

The woman paused for a long moment, long enough that Stan half-thought she had given up on the whole endeavour, before speaking up again.

“You look pretty human, all in all. Is that real, or is that all some big magic trick?”

_ Seventeen. _

Stan hadn’t needed to breathe for a while now, but he still instinctively sucked in a breath before responding. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t know what to say, because he did--but nobody had ever asked about his state of existence so bluntly before; nobody had ever reminded him so straightforwardly that his humanity was gone, that whether his eyes were white or black he was still just putting up a facade of what he had once been.

“All some big magic trick, I suppose.” Stan tried to grin and make his answer sound light-hearted, really, but some of his real mood shone through nevertheless.

“Well, that narrows it down some… I thought maybe you’d made a deal with a demon or something but- is that it?”

_ Sixteen. _

“Are you asking if I look like this ‘cause of a deal with a demon?” Stan tried not to let the hope shine through in his voice. He could say yes, and it would be true--he  _ had _ made a deal with a demon, and it  _ had _ , in a way, caused his change of appearance. And then she probably wouldn’t feel the need to ask much more, and she could feel like she won, and he could walk away knowing-

“No, I’m asking if you  _ are _ a demon.” As Stan deflated, the woman added, “And I reckon I hit the nail on the head with that one.”

Stan shot her a weak grin. “You did, yes.”

“But then-”

“Grunkle Stan, we’re almost fini- what’s going on?”

Stan looked at Dipper, but before he could respond, the woman spoke up again.

“Who is that?”

Part of Stan wanted to lie, to pretend that he barely knew the young man who stood beside him, to hide that Dipper had anything to do with him.

Part of Stan simply wondered how the woman would react if he told her the truth.

And part of Stan--a part that he wanted to deny existed, sometimes, that still didn’t feel quite like himself--knew that, per the deal he himself had set up, he still needed to answer fifteen of the woman’s questions truthfully.

“Family. Now-”

“And who are you?” Dipper asked, turning to face the woman.

“Call me Angie… actually-” Angie fixed her gaze on Stan, though she glanced back at the all-too-human Dipper once or twice. “If I give you my true name, will you promise not to use it against me?”

_ Fourteen. _

Stan pondered his response for a moment. “No promises. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to hurt someone who knew about my family.”

“...it’s McGucket. Angie McGucket.”

Stan raised an eyebrow. “McGucket, you say? Any relation to Fiddleford?”

“He’s my brother, actually. Now, how in the world does a demon know my brother’s name?”

_ Thirteen. _

Stan hesitated, but even if their deal hadn’t been in place, it seemed only fair that someone who had willingly given her name to a self-professed demon be given the same respect in turn.

“He’s my brother-in-law.” Stan extended a hand. “The name’s Stanley Pines, and it’s a pleasure to meet ya.”

Angie looked as though she were about ready to keel over, but her grip was strong as she shook his hand.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance.”


End file.
